The present invention relates to an electronic entertainment device which is activated upon contact with a soap bubble and, more particularly to a device which, in response to soap bubble contact, generates electrical signals which may be converted to sound, light or kinetic sensory output augmenting the entertainment and recreational nature of the device.
Blowing soap bubbles has long been a source of entertainment and recreation for children. Various and sundry devices and improvements have been developed over the years to facilitate the creation of soap bubbles for entertainment. There exists, however, an unmet need to supplement a child's entertainment and recreation with soap bubbles by providing entertainment devices which may be used to pop or burst soap bubbles which were previously created, and thereby generate a sensory output which provides an additional source of entertainment for the child.
While there exist devices which upon contact with skin or other conductive matter will trigger an output, such devices are not specifically designed to reliably detect and discern soap bubbles. Moreover, these devices are not physically designed for such detection and will not shed bubble soap. It would therefore be desirable to have a device which can discern soap bubbles having physical dimensions to shed soap fluid for later re-triggering.
It would be further desirable, therefore, to create a soap bubble sensing and responsive device which provides audible, visual or motion responses. Such devices or toys may take on a number of embodiments, including that of a toy or magic wand, or even animals and insects, which generate sound, motion or visual responses or some combination thereof for entertainment of the child user. Additionally, it would be desirable to fashion such responses to particularized users or for particularized purposes. For example, it may be desirable to use audible responses which are fashioned particularly for either female or male children. Such particularized responses might also contemplate the use of varying sounds, either changing with each bubble popped or changing based upon the number of bubbles popped for the purpose of game or sport. For game purposes it might be desirable to have short audible tone bursts for each bubble detected/popped up to a predetermined threshold for winning (e.g., 10 bubbles), then a long tone burst might be sounded.
An object of the present invention is to solve an unmet need for soap bubble sensing and responsive devices.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an entertainment device in the form of a toy which may take on various shapes, including a toy wand, animal, insect, etc., which is used by a child to pop or burst soap bubbles and thereby provide entertaining sensory output.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a soap bubble sensing and responsive toy wand which generates sounds or voices responsive to soap bubbles popped by the wand, the wand having an electrical soap bubble sensor at its end where soap bubbles may complete an electronic trigger circuit and the wand also having a soap bubble creation loop disposed within its handle portion.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from the description and may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.